#6 Neb.-Kearney 3 #10 Wayne State 1
#6 Nebraska-Kearney defeated #10 Wayne State in four sets Tuesday evening at the UNK Health and Sports Center in Kearney, Nebraska in an NCAA Division II Top 10 volleyball showdown. Scores of the match were 25-15, 18-25, 25-16, 25-17. The host Lopers are now 27-1 on the season while Wayne State drops to 20-7. The game was played before an NCAA Division II season-best crowd of 2,901 fans.
UNK came out on fire in the first set hitting .304 with 19 kills to win 25-15. Wayne State came back strong in the second set and had 19 kills while hitting .366 to win the set 25-18 and even the match at 1-1. But the Lopers responded in the third set, notching 18 kills and just two errors for a .340 attack percentage in a 25-16 win. The fourth set saw UNK force WSC into nine attack errors as the Lopers went on to a 25-17 win to take the match in four sets.
Nebraska-Kearney outhit Wayne State .261 - .142 and held a 62-52 advantage in kills over the Wildcats. UNK had 100 digs to 85 for WSC while the Lopers had one more block than WSC 8-7.
Tali Fredrickson and Cori Hobbs led Wayne State in hitting with 15 kills each. Fredrickson added 17 digs for her 17th double-double of the season in 27 matches and 10th in her last 11 matches. Senior libero Leigh Connot recorded 17 digs followed by Nicole Brungardt with 11 and McKenna Reagan 10. Sophomore setter Tatum Wroblewski handed out 48 set assists to go with 16 digs.
Wayne State will be at home this weekend for a pair of NSIC contests vs. Winona State Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and Upper Iowa Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
